Garment hanger



Filed Oct. 25, 1954 INVENTOR. 244 P MU/Q/P/I Y ATTORNEY nited rates2,777,621 Patented Jan. 15, 1957 GARMENT HANGER Ralph P. Murray, LosAngeles, (Jal f.

Application October 25, 1954, Serial No. 464,394

4 Claims. (Cl. 223--94) This invention relates to a garment hanger andhas for an object to provide a hanger that is collapsible or foldable.

Another object of the invention is to provide a foldable hanger that,when folded, can easily be slipped into the narrow neck of a garmentand, then, expanded directly into garment-hanging position, thusobviating undesired stretching of the garment. Also, such a foldablehanger eliminates tearing and similar hazards.

A further object of the invention is to provide a foldable hanger inwhich the arms or shoulders are foldable toward and from the aris of thebail, thus enabling an inline folding of the arms facilitatingintroduction of the hanger into a garment having a small neck or a neckwhich it is not desired to stretch.

The invention also has for its object to provide such means that arepositive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a workingposition and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture,relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novelcombinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear inthe course of the following description. However, the drawing merelyshows and the following description merely describes one preferredembodiment of the present invention, which is given by way ofillustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in theseveral views.

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a foldable garment hanger embodyingfeatures of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view as taken on line 22 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 showing another position of thefoldable hanger.

The garment hanger that is illustrated comprises, gen erally, a centralhood or frame 5, a pair of similar shoulders or arms 6 pivotally carriedby said frame 5, a sliding arm-lock and releasing member 7, and a hangerbail 8 here shown as aflixed to member 7 and, therefore, movabletherewith.

The hood or frame is shown as a sheet metal part forming sides 10 andrespective upper and lower walls 11 and 12, said sides and wallsenclosing an opening 13 which, as seen in Fig. 2, is relatively narrow.Said frame is generally rectangular in form and is provided through thesides 10 with a slideway or slot 14- which extends through lower wall12. Slot 14 is shown as bottom open but may be closed at both ends. Thepresent slot facilitates assembly of member 7 if the latter is ofintegral form, as shown. In line with slot 14, the upper wall 11 isprovided with a perforation 15. Because arms 6 are desired to becompactly folded, the lower side portions of the frame 5 are preferablyremoved as shown bringing the opposite ends 16 of lower wall 12 closertogether. Said frame may be molded or cast as desired.

The shoulders or arms 6 comprise arcuately formed members, one end ofeach being connected to frame 5 as at pivots 17 that are here shown aspins extending through frame sides 10 but may be trunnions formed in theframe 10. Said ends of arms 6 are loosely fitted into frame opening 13and the pivots thereof are uniformly spaced on either side of slot 14,Also, said pivoted ends of the arms 6 are each formed with angularlydirected end faces 18.

The sliding member 7 is here shown as an integral element of wood, metalor plastic although the same may be fabricated of three interfittingportions that reside between sides 10 and outside both said sides. Themember 7, as shown, has a central cam or wedge part 19 between sidewalls 10, and outer button parts 20 separated from cam part 19 by slits21 which define slide parts 22. The latter interconnect the parts 19 and20 and slide in slot 14.

The button parts 20 may be round, as shown, or any desired shape. Campart 19 may have a rounded lower portion. Its upper portion, however, isformed to have opposite sloping faces 23 that cooperate with end faces18 of arms 6 (Fig. 3) to hold the arms oppositely extended. Said faces23 are preferably upwardly sloped toward each other.

Member 7 may be separate from bail 8, in which case the latter may beafixed to wall 11 of the frame. Thus, member 7 may be slid between thearm locking position of Fig. 3 and the released position of Fig. 4independently of said ball. Naturally, the weight of arms 6 will createa force on the cam part 19 of member 7 holding the latter in arm lockingposition.

By mounting the bail on member 7, as shown, and extending said bailthrough perforation 15, hanging of the bail will create an upward forceon member 7 opposite to the gravitational pull on the other parts of thehanger. Consequently, the arms 6 remain firmly locked ingarment-supporting position. Only by pushing up relatively on frame 5 soas to move the arm pivots 17 up relative to the cam part 19, will thearms be freed to fold downward to the dot-dash position of Fig. 1.Conversely, the arms are spread by a downward push on said frame, thecam part forcing the arms out on their pivots until engagement isachieved between arm faces 18 and cam faces 23. By extending faces 18beyond the cam faces 23, as at 24, and into engagement with thementioned rounded portion of cam part 19, an effective lock is obtainedthat obviates accidental release of the arms.

It will be noted that, except as above described, the bail S isconventional. Also, the arms 6 are coplanar and move in a common planeon pivots transverse to said plane. Also, the arm movement is toward andfrom the axis of the bail between them.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is nowcontemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, theconstruction is, of course, subject to modification without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention. It is, therefore, notdesired to restrict the invention to the particular form of constructionillustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to besecured by Letters Patent is:

l. A garment hanger comprising a frame provided with opposite spacedsides and having a slideway comprising aligned slots formed in thesides, a pair of garment-hanging arms having their adjacent endsdisposed between the frame sides, but having the ends of each armremoved from each other, said arms being held within the frame byconnections comprising pins extending through the sides of the frame andthrough the ends of each arm, said connections forming a pivot for eacharm, the arms being movable on said pivots between a spread position eraeai for supporting a garment and a folded position with their outerends adjacent, a hanger bail having oneend extending into the frame inthe space between the sides thereof and between the arm pivots, and aslide member engaged in said slideway and fixedly connected to' said endof the bail to hold the latter non-rotationally, said member and bailbeing movable together, said pivoted ends of the arms, when the arms arefolded, being in the path of movement of the slide member and movablethereby to spread position.

2. A garment hanger comprising a frame provided with opposite spacedsides and having a slideway comprising aligned slots formed in thesides, a pairof garment-hanging arms having their adjacent ends disposedbetween the frame sides, but having the ends of each and removed fromeach other, said arms being held Within the frame by connectionscomprising pins extending through the sides of the frame and through theends of each arm, said connections forming a pivot for each arm, thearms being movable on said pivots between a spread position forsupporting a garment and ,a folded position with their outerendsadjacent, a hanger bailhaving one end extending into the frame in thespace between the sides thereof and between the arm pivots, a slidemember engaged in said slideway and fixedly connected to said end of thebail to hold the latter non-rotationally, said member and bail beingmovable together, said pivoted ends of the arms,

4 when the arms are folded, being in the path of movement of the slidemember and movable thereby to spread position, opposite cam faces onsaid slide member, and end faces on the. pivoted ends of the arms toengage the cam I faces, when the slide member is moved in the slots in adirection to spread the arms, to hold said arms in spreadgarment-supporting position. r

3. A garment hangerpaccording to claim 2: 'the cam faces on the slidemember diverging outwardly from the' top downwardly, and the mentionedfaceston the pivoted ends of the arms being disposed at angles to flatlyengage the slide member faces, when the arms are spread.

4. A garment hanger according to claim 2: the mentioned slots'being openat the bottom, the frame being provided with bottom walls on each sideof the slot to connect the sides of the frame, and said bottom wallsengaging the slide member to limit its lower position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS395,884 Donaldson u 'Ian. 8, 1889 959,687 Altermatt May ,31, 1910964,072 Watanabe July 12 1910 1,066,170 Wesner July 1, 1913 2,577,854Marbit Dec. 11,1951

